Page:The Emperor Marcus Antoninus - His Conversation with Himself.djvu/398

 218 XIX. There are four ill Qualities we must be particularly careful to avoid, and pull them up as fast as we find them grow in our Heads: and undertake them as they rise in this fashion. This fancy (say) is Groundless and Unnecessary: This rough behaviour makes Society, and Correspondence impracticable : This t'other is but a Copy of your Countenance; you can't say it from your heart, Now this is a very bad Character. There's Three of them : And whatever you are conscious degrades the Diviner part of you, makes your Mind Truckle to your Body, and your Reason to your Pleasures, look upon that as the Fourth.

XX. Those Particles of Fire and Air which are lodg'd in your Body, notwithstanding their Tendency to Mount, submit to the Laws of the Universe , stick close to your Constitution , and keep the rest of the Elements Company. Again, the Earthly, and Watry Part in you, tho' they naturally press downwards, are raised above their Level, and stand pois'd in a Foreign Region : Thus the Elements serve the Interest of the World. And tho' they seem to stand bent and uneasie, they keep their Post, till the Signal is given to march off, and separate. And is it not then a scandalous business that your Mind Rh